Businesses provide facilities to allow their customers to have a better experience or shop more comfortably. For example, many stores provide shopping carts for their customers to allow the customers to transport merchandise in their stores and to their vehicles. Stores also provide shopping cart corrals in their parking lots so the stores' customers can return the shopping carts after the customers have transported any purchased merchandise to their vehicles. Providing shopping cart corrals reduces vehicle damage complaints by customers by supplying the customers with a location to return their shopping carts, instead of the customers leaving the shopping carts in unoccupied parking spaces in the stores' parking lots. Shopping carts left in unoccupied parking spaces are more likely to roll (or to be accidentally pushed) into a vehicle parked in the parking lot and cause damage to the body or paint of the vehicle, as well as damage the cart. Shopping cart corrals also help keep parking lots organized and reduce shopping cart theft and loss. For similar reasons, airports provide luggage carts for travelers and businesses provide bicycle racks for their customers.
Other structures such as train or bus stop shelters provide customers comfort and protection from the elements while waiting for their transportation. Similarly, telephone booths provide customers comfort, protection and privacy while they make telephone calls.
While these structures and facilities can save the businesses money by reducing shopping and luggage cart loss and claims of vehicle damage, and enhance the customers' experience by avoiding clutters of carts and bicycles outside the stores, and in the case of train or bus stop shelters and telephone booths, by providing them with comfort, protection and privacy, these structures and facilities are expensive to purchase and maintain, and provide no direct revenues to the businesses.
Furthermore, these structures and facilities can become worn-out and battered after being exposed to the elements over an extended period of time. These worn-out and battered structures and facilities can be a blemish or eyesore at the front of an otherwise pristine and/or well-maintained business, particularly because they are often located in high traffic areas.
Many of these structures and facilities are constructed with a space created by two aligned walls of equal length where carts and bicycles can be held, or within which customers can stand or sit in the case of train or bus stop shelters and telephone booths (the space is hereinafter referred to as the “enclosure”). Advertisement panels may be affixed on the walls of these structures and facilities, and each panel has two sides, one facing the enclosure, and one facing away from it, both of which can display various advertisements simultaneously. These advertisements generate on-going revenues for the businesses and also make the structures and facilities more attractive.
Examples of shopping cart corrals having aligned walls on which advertisement panels are affixed are shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/456,875, filed Jun. 24, 2009, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
However, the aligned advertisement panels prevent customers from viewing both panels simultaneously and also from viewing one of the panels in an unobstructed fashion in the event that an object such as a vehicle is parked alongside the panel, when customers approach from the side of the structure or facility, as discussed in more detail below in connection with FIG. 3A.
Accordingly, a need or potential for benefit exists for a facility or structure with at least two substantially parallel advertisement panels arranged in a staggered fashion to enhance visibility and allow simultaneous viewing of as many advertisements as possible on the two substantially parallel panels.
Existing shopping cart corrals fail to effectively advertise products and services for a number of other reasons as well. Over the course of the past two decades, the number of users who own mobile devices (e.g., cell phones, personal digital assistants, tablets or similar types of portable electronic devices) has steadily increased and the mobile devices have become much more powerful in terms of processing power, storage and functionality. Many mobile devices can store several gigabits worth of data and can perform a variety of different of functions, including functions for executing applications, downloading applications and content, and rendering web content. These mobile devices may also be configured to communicate using several different modes of communication (e.g., Bluetooth™, Wi-Fi, near field communication protocols, in addition to cellular networks). Despite the increased use and functionality of mobile devices, advertising or promotional campaigns that make use of shopping cart corrals fail to take advantage of opportunities that are presented or made available by mobile devices.
Moreover, with shopping cart corrals, the advertisements which are typically displayed tend to be made of paper, cardboard, metal or similar material. The advertisements are not interactive and do not provide any enhanced functionality that entices individuals to purchase the products or services which are being advertised. Individuals who view the advertisements may find them unappealing or pay little attention to the advertisements. Furthermore, from the perspective of an advertiser or advertisement service provider, changing such advertisements can be costly and time intensive given that the advertisements would have to be physically changed.
Accordingly, a need exists for providing a shopping cart corral, or other type of corral, that has the ability to advertise products and services in a manner which takes advantage of functionality provided by mobile devices such as smart phones. Likewise, a need exists for providing a shopping cart corral that is configured to provide interactive, tailored advertisements and promotions that can be dynamically changed over a network connection.